How LEGO City is broadening its horizons in 2024  

LEGO City has spent the past few years introducing original characters and embracing retro references, redefining itself and its image in turn. 

From one of the most formulaic themes in the portfolio to a more original, nostalgic and widely appealing range, LEGO City has been broadening its horizons over the past few years, and it’s never been better for LEGO fans of all ages and experiences. 

After LEGO City evolved from Town in 2005, the theme has released dozens of similar police, firefighter and construction-centric builds. All of these collections continue to this day but LEGO City has managed to expand its offerings without losing any of its core identity. 2019’s LEGO City Adventures started a revolution for LEGO City which introduced original and recurring characters to the theme, inspiring designers to give LEGO City more of an identity than ever before.

This only strengthened in 2023 with the debut of LEGO City: No Limits and while some of these characters have disappeared from the theme, others continue to appear occasionally. This drove a change in LEGO City that has led to more diverse builds in 2024 – especially 60421 Robot World. The 2024 roller coaster model embraces nostalgia in a way that few LEGO sets manage to successfully – directly but in a grounded nature. 

“The question was, can we get a robot into a city?” questioned LEGO designer Chris Stamp when speaking to Blocks magazine. “Or is that pushing it too far? It’s easy with Space, but how do you get it into a non-space location without creating robot dogs?” 

The solution to getting a robot into LEGO City ended up being to take near-direct inspiration from real-world theme parks and how they embrace exaggerated and oversized decorations to immerse you in another world. 

“Personally, I always look at it as a statue. When you go to Disney World, you see a big statue of Mickey Mouse, but you’re not going to jump in him and drive him. In Robot World, it’s a giant statue of a robot at the theme park.” 

This ideology extends beyond the Exo-Force mech recreation too, affecting the design of the roller coaster and how it intermingles with the rest of the set to make both feel much more complete. 

“What I kept saying to the designer was don’t just focus on the roller coaster; it’s not a coaster plus building. I wanted a building that happens to have a rollercoaster going through it. That’s where we used the portals, it was a natural progression as we were developing the product.” 

This innovative approach to LEGO City – embracing the weird and whimsical in a grounded way – can be seen in the 2025 sets. The likes of 60460 No Limits: Race Car Ramp Track show that LEGO City isn’t afraid to be different anymore and have fun with itself but is keeping things realistic.

In the case of that set and its accompanying models, that’s by recreating the soapbox hill races that take place in the real world which commonly feature crazy-looking vehicles of all shapes and sizes. A toilet is relatively normal in comparison. 

According to Stamp, this is the new normal for LEGO City, and it extends to stickers and how often they are used. 

“How do we take what everybody knows City is famous for, then elevate it through aesthetics, product choices, everything?” explains Stamp who has moved from LEGO Speed Champions to the design team for City. “What do people think a City model is? How do we expand that? 

“In Speed Champions, I had a goal of constantly increasing decorations whilst minimising stickers. Whether you like stickers or not, a car always needs its eyes. I have done the same on City – if a sticker doesn’t add value, lose it.” 

The value that Stamp is referring to for stickers in LEGO City goes beyond emblems for emergency services, but to nostalgic references that drive interest in the theme’s sets for long-time LEGO fans who otherwise may not be as interested. 

60421 Robot World is another shining example of this new mantra with many of its stickers being references to classic themes. 

“I’m proud of everything we achieved in the set, especially the graphic work by Brian Gabrillo – it includes No Face as a character, the mech references Exo-Force – it achieves a lot.

“I was a huge fan of the U.F.O. set from Alien Conquest [7052 UFO Abduction] – it’s a work of art and seems so simple but it does exactly what it needs to and picks up the farmer. The set also references the older Ultra Agents car that I designed [70162 Inferno Interception] that was also referenced in 70657 NINJAGO City Docks. Then BIONICLE and Collectible Minifigures are in the dance party.” 

As stated in our review, the references in 60421 Robot World are one of the best parts of the set especially when you consider that every Easter egg can be removed from the cumbersome build to admire separately. 

For many, seeing a lot of references from a more modern era of the LEGO portfolio all in one place is something to be celebrated as there are countless Easter eggs for LEGO Castle and Classic Space, but not as many for Alien Conquest and Galaxy Squad. Don’t forget that 60421 Robot World also plays a crucial role in the now-ongoing story of LEGO City. The inclusion of the villainous No-Face as a minifigure in 60421 Robot World makes this model a must-have for any fans that have been enjoying the LEGO City: No Limits story.

“The LEGO City: No Limits team are writing awesome scripts around certain models. We knew from Season 1 that there was going to be this villain called No Face. You don’t know who this person is, but we knew we wanted to put references to them in the sets.” 

This new era of LEGO City showcased excellently in 60421 Robot World demonstrates that the long-time theme is embracing the weird and wonderful side of a brick-built city that, surprisingly, reflects the stranger parts of our own.

The future is bright for LEGO City as long as it continues to follow this path and as Chris Stamp states in the interview, there don’t appear to be any plans to deviate now that LEGO City has started to broaden its horizons. It’s a new day in LEGO City and there’s never been a better time to enjoy the theme going into 2025.

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